SAN PABLO / 911 said to be overwhelmed after hospital ER's closure

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, September 21, 2006

The chief of staff at Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo warned Wednesday of "horrendous" effects if officials shut down the financially struggling hospital's emergency room permanently.

Dr. John Rampulla said paramedics have been overwhelmed by an influx of 911 calls since Doctors closed its emergency room to ambulances last week. He said he suspected the increase was caused by indigent patients who do not have cars and can't get to the next closest emergency room, at Kaiser Richmond Medical Center, without an ambulance.

Rampulla said two patients -- a 7-week-old and a 49-year-old -- were brought to Doctors by family members this week after they got a busy signal when calling 911. Both patients died, he said.

The hospital closed its emergency room to ambulances two days before the hospital's board voted to authorize administrators to file for bankruptcy and shut a campus in Pinole.

At a news conference Wednesday, Doctors chief executive Irwin Hansen said all outpatient services, including radiology and the cancer center, are still open. He is meeting with local and state officials to try to resolve the financial crisis, he said. The hospital is losing an average of $1.5 million a month.